


Playing The Hero

by MysticMedusa



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bisexual Loki (Marvel), Hurt Tony Stark, M/M, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-28
Updated: 2017-09-28
Packaged: 2019-01-06 10:59:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12209886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MysticMedusa/pseuds/MysticMedusa
Summary: Tony's entire life he's had to put on a mask. Loki his entire life he's had to lie. Somehow these two find understanding in each other, even though they both know there's no fairy-tale ending for people like them





	Playing The Hero

Tony remembers the first time they did this. Loki had escaped his prison and returned to the world he tried to conquer. He no longer brought death and alien armies but destruction and tricks. It seemed his villain status was earned with mischief and chaos as true to the god’s title. Tony had been dragged to another gala were he’d be forced to smile at people who don’t care who he is. Those who would offer him pretty words to use him for his wealth, women pressing against him hoping for a night that would earn them their fifteen minutes of fame. Tony grew up in this life and it never got any easier. Every time someone offered him a moment of their time only to seek out a way to use or hurt him he died a little more inside. He was Tony Stark, son of Howard Stark, the merchant of death, and iron man but no one ever saw Tony stark. They only saw one of the other three things he was known for. Even the avengers saw one of these three things.

So he smiled when he needed to and hid any and all weakness while in the public. Then like the force of chaos he was Loki approached him during the few moments he managed to slip away from the blinding lights and false smiles. Cool hands sliding up Tony’s chest as the god looked down at him with those poison green eyes and a smile that promised mischief.

“I see your time in prison didn’t last long.” He sassed easily not because he had no self-preservation and was reckless but because Loki was something new that he didn’t understand. Tony was a curious man and one of science. Seeking knowledge about the unknown was something he’d always done.

“I suppose it didn’t agree with me.” Loki countered his eyes raking over Tony’s body.

“So come to finish the job?” Tony asked knowing he’d receive a lie because why would the god of lies himself speak truth to someone like Tony.

“Perhaps I’m simply bored and thought you could amuse me for a night.”

Lies but Tony could work with lies. He was use to everyone lying to him.

“That I can do.” Tony grabbed the god’s hair and pulled him down sealing their lips together painfully and roughly.

The god clung to him and soon they were no longer in a secluded area of the gala but his penthouse. Clothing being ripped from each other’s bodies. Their kisses were not those of lovers but like someone dying of thirst and only by stealing each other’s lips could they hope to quench their thirst. They didn’t make love but fucked hard and fast. Teeth meeting skin, nails drawing blood, and fingers leaving bruises as a reminder of what they had done.

Loki’s back arching off the bed as he taunted Tony claiming mortals couldn’t please gods but moaning enough to show the clear lie of his words. Tony didn’t say Loki was lying, just acted like the arrogant asshole the media portrayed him as while he countered Loki’s taunts with jabs at the god not being worth his proper experience from years of being a playboy. For all his lies of being unsatisfied with Tony’s skills the god came hard as he screamed in pleasure milking Tony’s cock of everything it had.

Collapsed on the bed and tired Tony didn’t offer the god kindness or soft touches. He didn’t question as the god got up claiming he’d wasted his time with a partner that couldn’t satisfy him. Tony said nothing of the god’s lies when he saw Loki barely able to stand. He just watched him go and fell asleep thinking of the god of lies and curious when he’d enter his bed again.

A week later Loki was causing mischief in the city. An army of small adorable but deadly creatures running amok doing no harm to civilians but quite a bit of property damage. Nothing had changed, Tony helped stop Loki and the god escaped prison within a few mere hours. Fury called to inform the avengers not knowing that Tony had the god bent over the mini bar in his penthouse fucking into him for all it was worth.

It became a routine of theirs. Loki lied and pretended to use Tony for his body and Tony continued to play the hero. He was after all not a hero according to Steve. Just a playboy that fought only for himself.

“So you’re a fan of the wizard of oz.” Tony commented one day when he lay in bed as Loki dressed.

“Are you not? Such poor tastes you have mortal.” Loki taunted as usual.

“Hey I love flying monkeys as much as the next person but I always liked the wicked witch. Maybe next time you decide to cause trouble you’ll attack us with giant smurfs. I always wanted to see a real life smurf.”

Loki eyed him as he stood fully dressed.

“And they call you a hero.” He said mockingly.

“They also call me the merchant of death and menace.” He said offering the false smile the press always received.

Loki eyed him before he vanished. This was not love but it wasn’t as false as all those one night stands. Tony knew what Loki meant because he knew he could always count on one thing with the god. He would always lie and Tony knew how to handle lies.

Tony had to resist bursting out laughing when he saw the giant smurfs walking the streets of New York. He had always enjoyed Loki’s mischief. Nothing was boring with the god and yeah he was paying for the damage from the attacks but who cared. Everything was more interesting with the slightly unstable god.

Fury was throwing a fit with them being unable to keep Loki contained and Thor was growing tired of his brother’s constant attacks. Tony often found himself hating Thor a little during these times. Thor didn’t see what Tony did. Loki’s grand schemes were so the god who had always been seen as the weaker and less wanted prince could finally be seen. Each prank a cry saying ‘look at me’ and each time he got what he wanted as both civilians and heroes couldn’t help but look at the younger god. How Thor could not see why Loki did what he did was beyond Tony. He knew Thor was a good teammate but honestly with the stories he told it was clear he’d been a terrible brother.

When Loki came clenching around Tony he felt like Loki’s hand gripping his shoulders as his legs wrapped around him were a mocking of a lover’s embrace. Perhaps he wanted more than these passing flings with the god. Maybe he wanted to force the world to look at Loki as he showed him to the world as his lover. But he knew it would only be placing the god in another shadow and Tony wasn’t someone anyone could love. He was a liar who played a part in the public and ignored in private. Even the avengers who lived in the tower using his money and tech did not bother to see the real Tony. They left him alone as he spent hours or days at a time in his workshop. Only dragging him out when they claimed he was being an irresponsible person by not caring for himself. None bothered to see he had snacks and food stocked in his private workshop nor that he would sleep on the couch to rest. No one noticed he took breaks in-between projects to bathe because he could be with only a few minutes noticed before he was thrust in front of the cameras where the whole world judged his every move.

So no, Tony could not have Loki as he wanted and he suspected the god knew this. So they kept up this act of empty nights together where Loki would spare a longing glance at the bed as though he longed to actually stay and feel the warm embrace of a lover while spilling lies of how Tony was only slightly better than past partners. Tony would watch him dress commenting on his mischief and offering compliments in a cocky and arrogant tone that was expected of the playboy.

Neither commenting on how they truly saw the other. Loki knew everything Tony did was for show. Playing a part with the script he’d been given and always no more than a dancing monkey having to appeal to the public eye. Tony knowing why Loki acted the way he did and seeing past every lie he spoke. They were a match made in hell and both knew a happy ending didn’t exist for either of them.

“So why does the so called hero continue to meet with a super villain? Surely your comrades would not look too fondly upon such actions.” Loki commented as Tony stood in a pair of boxers pouring himself a drink after they had fucked on the couch and over the kitchen counter.

“What the hell do I care what they think? They knew who I was when they called for my help with New York. Iron man yes, Tony Stark not recommended. I even told Rogers I’m a playboy so this shouldn’t be that surprising.”

Loki’s eyes seem to flash with anger for a moment. Tony said nothing knowing the reason as the god was the only one who saw through every lie, every piece of bullshit he build the walls around him with. Like Loki he was both accepted and rejected by those around him. Thor claimed the love of a brother while never really looking at Loki. Odin claimed to love him as his son but only showered Thor with affection. This was the cruel hand fate had dealt them and both were manage to stand strong even as their respective worlds beat them down and never saw their true value.

“Ah yes your playboy status, I had been counting on that so you would entertain me. My how your other partners must be as disappointed as I am with your performance.”

“Well all complaints go to HR but I haven’t heard a sexual harassment lawsuit from you yet so I’m thinking I’m doing something right.” Tony offered with a smirk.

“Truly Midgard is quite odd. So tell me man of iron, do you foolishly believe this shall end well for you? Perhaps I’ve been using this to find a way to destroy your team.”

Tony smirked at him.

“We both know how this will end. One day I’ll die either in a fight or of old age or you’ll go too far and one of the team will finally snap and kill you. That’s how all stories of heroes and villains go.”

“I am a god; your little team cannot defeat me. Or perhaps you think I’ll mourn you when you eventually fall.”

Tony let out a bitter laugh that had Loki tensing slightly.

“Everyone will only mourn the lost potential. No more free toys, no more money, and no more good gossip in the news. If you want to see people mourning the loss of a hero the good captain or our resident god of thunder would have to fall in battle.”

Maybe Tony should have been worried when the god didn’t just vanish. Grabbed roughly and pulled in for a kiss that left him with a bleeding lip he heard Loki whisper how he hated Tony before he left. A god of lies but both had accepted this could never end happily for them.

The next time the avengers are called out it’s to deal with doom and his army of robots. They had been improved since the last time Doom made an appearance. Even Hulk was wearing down as they fought their way through the massive number of enemies. Steve was being outnumbered, Tony had already had to have JARVIS send more arrows for Clint, Natasha was nursing a broken arm as she continued to fight, and Tony was being overpowered. When he had pictured his death he likely wouldn’t have guessed being blown up by doom bots or buried alive under a mountain of them. The bot that latched onto him had a flashing red light and everything went dark for a moment. He wondered for a moment if there was an afterlife or maybe being reborn was possible. Maybe in another life there’d be a happy ending waiting for him at the end of the path he walked. He doubted if even being reincarnated a thousand times would make the path he walked any less bloody and with any less innocent lives lost due to his careless ways.

When he opened his eyes he knew two things. One, most of his armor had been damaged or blasted off with the explosion and two, he had doom bots falling from the sky ready to land on top of him. Judging from the sparks, Thor had struck them with lightning not realizing Tony couldn’t move. In the end it wouldn’t matter, he felt the pure hot pain in his body and the wetness was likely his blood pooling beneath his damaged body. So this is how it ends.

A green explosion denied him his end and a scream of rage was followed by a massive wave of magic. Tony turned in time to see the doom bots reduced to nothing but ash and Loki was standing protectively over Tony looking enraged.

“Are you truly so foolish that you’d allow yourself to be damaged so much?”

Tony smiled weakly showing his teeth stained with blood as whatever strength he had was quickly fading. He was surprised he hadn’t bled out already. He heard the muffled cries of his teammates likely attempting to stop Loki who was crouching beside Tony.

“Is this going hurt?” Tony managed through the pain and blood that he coughed out onto the ground next to him.

“You are my enemy; of course I’m going to make sure it hurts. How else will you learn that the most amusing of the avengers isn’t allowed to die by anyone else’s hand but my own?”

Loki was a lying liar. It was warm and comforting to the point he wanted to fall asleep as Loki’s magic washed over him mending every wound left by Doom’s attack. When the warmth receded he looked up to see Loki hadn’t even broken a sweat at the use of so much magic. The god had seriously been going easy on them and hadn’t been trying during the invasion. Tony had suspected as much but had said nothing on the matter.

“Tony!” Steve called from the other side of the barrier that Loki was using to keep them all away from them.

“To loud Capsicle, I’ve got a major headache from someone trying to blow me up.” He said sitting up slowly.

“Just remember the next time someone attempts to blow you up it better be me.” Loki said standing and ready to leave.

By the time Tony got to his feet Loki was gone and the avengers were bombarding him with questions. As always he carefully talked his way out of that conversation and their suspicions. None any the wiser that the night of the fight he was bottoming for the god and being relentlessly pounded into. No words of love ever being spoken between them because a god of lies would never say any words resembling ‘I love you’ and even when the god had stepped in again and again only when Tony was in danger the avengers never realized the truth of why the god appeared even when he still brought chaos and destruction with his own attacks.

Thor had false hope that Tony could save Loki from the path he was on. Tony never told Thor what he thought about his thinking on that. He doesn’t tell Thor that Loki is chained to the path he walked by Thor’s constant betrayals whether he realized them or not, by their father’s false claims of love, and by the sins of the past. Tony doesn’t know Loki’s full story but he knows enough through the tales Thor tells proudly when celebrating and from the secrets spoken only when he was too far gone while drunk to realize what he was revealing. So Tony says nothing as Thor hopes that he can save someone who likely cannot be saved in this life.

So the affair continues with no words of love and no sign of the redemption Thor had been hoping for. To be fair Tony wasn’t a hero, not a real one anyways. He played at being a hero for his own reasons. For selfish reasons of attempting to even the scale of his past crimes.

 

~

 

“I’m sorry Mr. Stark…” The doctor gives him the news the day after his forty seventh birthday. The palladium poisoning had turned to cancer and he didn’t have long to live. Months at the most.

The avengers don’t know, it would only distract them from missions. Pepper doesn’t know because it would shift her focus from keeping Stark Industries running. Rhodey doesn’t know because he was oversees for the military and honestly he didn’t want to worry his closest friend.

“Surely you must be losing your edge if you are wallowing in despair alone here.” Loki said as he appeared behind Tony where he was sitting as he looked out at the nightlife of New York.

Tony doesn’t greet the god as he normally did. Usually they went straight to fucking each other when the god made an appearance off the battlefield. Loki moves to stand in front of him curious as to why the normally loud and arrogant genius is so silent. Tony just stares where his eyes have been fixated for the past three hours since he returned from the doctor. A pale hand reaches out but is quickly drawn back like he can sense the poison quickly killing him within his body. Only then do tired brown eyes look up at the god of lies whose body had always betrayed him. He sheds no tears but they well up in his eyes.

“It’s going to hurt in my last months. I’m too much of a coward to take the easy way out.” Tony admits tiredly knowing he’d love to just end it instead of suffering the pain and descent into a weakened state. Stark men were made of iron. They were strong; he had been strong all his life…now he was going to die a weakened and helpless man.

Pale hands cup his cheeks and finally Loki kisses him for once in their odd arrangement doing so tenderly. No words are spoken so that for once their encounter holds no lies. Tony knew one day he’d die and leave behind the god. He was mortal after all and he hadn’t been in the best health after everything he did in his youth and the events of Afghanistan.

Held gently by the god for once not fucking but instead doing what he could honestly call making love. Cherished for maybe the first time in his life and by the only one who understood him and saw past the masks and lies.

He’s tired and for all his brave front he is a coward and afraid of death. When Loki pulls away from him finally Tony thinks he’s going to leave like he always did. Instead he leaves for the kitchen and returns with a drink for him saying nothing but his eyes are soft and almost kind. He accepts the sweet drink and says nothing when Loki curls around him to sleep.

Tony doesn’t dream that night as his breathing calms and slowly stops. Loki kisses him before the god vanishes in the morning and JARVIS alerts the avengers to the fact his creator had stopped breathing. The poison Loki had mixed in the drink doesn’t show up when they try to find the cause of his death. The god of mischief only looks on from the shadows cloaked by his magic from sight as the avengers and Tony’s friends mourn his death. None knowing the poisonous cancer that had been painfully stealing away his life. None knowing Tony had been too cowardly to knowingly end his own life to spare himself the pain nor that Loki had seen the hidden plea for help to not suffer. To not be seen as weak.

The night of the funeral Loki left Midgard and returned to Asgard. Thor the foolish and hopeful god never connected the two events and was simply glad to have his brother back.

 

~ Epilogue

 

Twenty years after the death of Tony Stark Midgard faced a war with the mad titan. Of the original avengers only Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, and Natasha Romanov remained. Each still looking the same from the last time the original avengers had gathered. Hulk prevented Bruce from aging at the normal rate, Steve’s serum slowed his aging, and Natasha had been revealed to have a similar serum. Clint had long since retired and his son Cooper had taken on the role of Hawkeye having shared his father’s talents. Added to the team was Spiderman aka Peter Parker, Wanda Maximoff, Pietro Maximoff, Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes aka the former winter soldier. Like Steve and Natasha the serum slowed his aging and he’d been part of the avengers as a full time member for almost a decade now.

With the mad titan’s arrival Thor had returned to help with allies from the nine realms. Many realms sent their warriors to aid Midgard to finally put an end to the mad titan. Loki had been reluctant to ever face the monster again but at his brother’s and now king’s request he had joined.

As the battle raged victory seemed a distance dream as the mad titan’s forces swarmed them.

“Brother we are gravely outnumbered.” Loki said feeling the continued waging war taking its toll even on him.

“We cannot allow him to win.” Thor said knocking out another chitauri with his hammer.

Loki summoned his magic again taking out enemies but he missed the mage nearing him. Only when a powerful burst of magic blew apart the powerful mage did the god realize how close he’d been to being killed. He turned to see who had recused him to find a young light elf with chocolate brown hair hanging past her shoulders and bright amber brown eyes looking at him with a cocky smirk.

“Hey Reindeer Games, seriously you’ve got to watch your back.”

The god’s eyes were drawn to the amulet the elf wore that had a very familiar shape. He was unable to speak before the elf turned away lifting a hand covered in a green and gold gauntlet and fired it at Thanos when he raised his hand to use the infinity gauntlet. The mad titan who was feared throughout the realms screamed bloody murder as the small yet powerful gauntlet of the light elf had done what no other weapon had managed to so far. It hurt Thanos and actually managed to blow his arm with the most powerful weapon in the universe from his body. Before the mad titan’s forces could respond the elf rushed over and snatched up the gauntlet.

“You worthless creature.” Thanos roared but he didn’t go near the elf as Loki’s magic fired sending the monster back.

“Want to do the honors princess?”

He accept the infinity gauntlet and used the power of the stones within it to destroy not only Thanos but all his forces as well. Only when their forces stood victorious did Loki look at the elf that was so familiar but he dared not hope an impossible hope.

“I’m Lylah Aelsadottir, crown princess of Alfheim but I prefer to be called Tony.” She said offering him a flirtatious wink.

Loki didn’t even realize he’d taken her hand until he felt a spark of her magic. Finally back to himself he realized his hope was not so impossible and placed a kiss on her hand.

“Loki Odinson, prince of Asgard. Do you believe at love at first sight?”

She smirked.

“I would, if this was the first time seeing you. Now are you going to kiss me or are doing this the awkward way?”

The others were absolutely confused when the god of mischief pulled her to him kissing her like he’d just reunited with his lost love. Maybe he had if he was being honest with himself. He had not let Tony Stark suffer such a shameful and painful death for a reason, a reason he refused to ever willingly admit to himself at the time.

“Brother?”

When they pulled away from each other the avengers and Thor stood there looking quite confused.

“Wow Point Blank, still looking as buff as always. I must admit I didn’t expect Capsicle to still be up and about fighting aliens. You’d think you would have done the whole 40s thing of getting married and have kids thing by now.”

Shocked silence fell over them all as her words and the nicknames she spoke washed over them. Then one by one eyes locked onto the amulet she wore that resembled the arc reactor and without a doubt they had all realized their lost comrade had been reborn. Thor and Loki realizing that Tony must have gained the favor of the Norns to be allowed such a rare gift.

“By the way Thor I’m totally marrying your brother. Don’t try and stop me, I will shave your beard.”

Overjoyed at not only having his comrade back but also finally realizing that in a way Tony had saved his brother Thor scooped up the elf and Loki into his arms for a nearly bone crushing hug.


End file.
